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Show 380 ·DIS~ERT. ~1. ~ H I S T 0 R Y . 0 F M E X l C 0, Spani!h writers, . but alfo to the Mexicans themfelves: . All t~e wo~ks of tlon Ferdirtand Alba Ixtlilxochitl, of don Dom101c . Chunalprun, and others named in the catalogue of writers, at the beginning of this hifi:ory, have been compofed by the affifi:ance of a great m1m~er ~(an .. dent paintirtgs. The indefatigable Sahagun, confulted an mfin1ty of paintings for his hifi:ory .of New Sp.ain. Torq~.emada o~ten ~ites the piCtures which he exammed fbr l11s work, S1gucnza mhented the manufcripts and paintings of Ixtlilxochitl, and procured many others at a great expence, and after having made his extraCts from them, left them at his death, together with his valuable librarx, to the college of St. Peter and St. Paul, of the Jefuits of Mexico; in which library we f.1w and il:udied fome of thofe paintings. During the two laft centuries, ancient paintings were frequently produced at tribunals by the Mexicans, as titles of property, and the poffeffion of lands; and on that account, interpreters 1killed in the fignifications of fuch paintings were confulted. Gonzalez Oviedo makes mention of that cuftom at tribu .. nals in the· times of Sebafriano Ramirez de Fuenleal, prefident of the -royal audience of Mexico; and as the knowledge of fuch titles was of great importance to the decifion of fuits, t.here was formerly a profeffor in the univerfity of Mexico, appointed to teach . the fcience of Mexican paintings, hieroglyphics, and charaCters. The many pictures collected a few years ago by Boturini, and mentioned in the Catalogue of his Mufeum, publilhed at Madrid, in 1746, demonfi:rate, that not quite fo few as M. de Paw and Dr. Robertfon imagine, have efcaped the burning by the miffionaries. In fhort, to confirm what we have written in this hiil:ory, and let M. de Paw underfrand the variety of Mexican paintings, we ihall mention here briefly what Dr. Eguiara has written in his learned Preface to his Bibliotheca Mexicana. " There were," he fays, " among " the Mexican pictures thofe of the lunar courfe, called by them To" nalamatl, in which they publilhed their prognofiics refpecting the " changes of the moon. One of thofe pictures is introduced by Si .. " guenza, in his Ciclographia Mexicana, as he himfelf acknowledges " in his · work, entitled, Libra Aftronomica. · Others contained the " horofcopes of children, in which they reprefented their names, the " day and fign of their birth, and their fortune. Of this fort of " paiat .. It I S T 0 R. Y 0 F M E X I C 0. " painting, mention is made by Jerom Roman, in his Republic if the DISSER'V, " World, Part II. Tom. ii. Others were dogmatical, containing the '-' _v...,.1 , _·-.~-· !' fyftem of their religion; others 1iftorical, othets geographical," & " It is true," adds the fame author, " that thofe paintings which were " made for familiar and common ufe, were clear and intelligible to. " every one : but thofe which contained the fecrets of religion were "' full of hieroglyphics, the meaning of which could not be compre" hended by the vulgar: T 1ere ms •reat difference in their paintings, " both with refpetl: to their authors, and the method of doing them,. " and the defign and· ufe of them. Thofe which were made for thy· " ornaments of the palaces · were perfect; but in others containing " fome fecret meaning, particular charaCters, and fome monfirous and, ' horrible figures were employed. The painters w.ere numerous; but " the writing of characters, the compofing of annals, and the treat" ing of matters concerning religion and policies,. were. employmenti; " peculiar to the priefts~" So far EG ur ARA. • M. de Paw will plcafe to know therefore, that among the Mexican. paintings fame were mere images of objeCts.; ~hey . had alfo: char~c-. ters not compoftng· words as ours do, but figmficatlve of thmgs hke thofe of afironomers and algebraifis. Some paintings w.ere folely. in-· tended to exprefs ideas or conceptions, and, if we may fay fo, to write; but in thefe they paid no regard to proportion or. beaut.y .. becaufe they were done in ha!te, and for the purpofe of inil:ruCting the mind, not of pleafing the eye·: in thofe, however, where they il:rove to imitate na-. ture, and which they executed with that leifure which works of fuch, kind require, they ftrictly obferved the difiances, ~roporti.ons, attitud:s,. and rules. of the art, though not with the perfectiOn wh1ch we admu·e · in the good painters of Europe. In. !hort, we wi{h. M .. de.Paw wo~ld: !hew· us fome rude or half-poli!hed people of the old contment wh1ch, has exerted {o inuch indufiry and diligence. as. the Mexicans to perpe-tuate the memory of ev.ents. . . Dr. Robertfon, where he treats of the· culture· of the Mexican& m the feventh book of his Hill:ory, explains. the prog_refs which human intlu!hy makes to arriv.e at the invention of letter~, by the co~binations (i)f which are expreifed all the different founds of d1fcourfe;: ~h1s fucceffive progrefs, aacording to .. him, proceeds from. actual.pamtmg to fim- . ' z :r.le.. |